So I just found out about an event called Indie Author Day where about 300 libraries across the country are hosting events for indie authors. Apparently, this is the inaugural event and they plan on doing this annually. You can click on the link above and find out where the library closest to you is hosting. It’s on October 8th, and I’m planning on going with Thing 3 and Thing 4.

I’m not sure how I didn’t hear of this before…or maybe I did and simply didn’t pay attention, but I am now! I guess when my book, Blood Promise, releases this Saturday, I’ll officially be an indie author. Woohoo!

If anyone would like to review Blood Promise, send me an email to tonya (dot) kerrigan (at) gmail (dot) com along with your name and the name of your blog. I can send ARCs in mobi to your kindle email. Thanks!

With a murderous beast on her heels and a conniving daemon who wants to use her for his own means, Tora Hayden’s main objective is to keep herself and those she cares about alive.

After meeting an enigmatic businessman who possibly suffers from florid psychosis, Tora is propelled into the world of the supernatural. She’s forced to believe the mythical world exists when she’s brutally attacked by a savage fiend intent on annihilating her family line for reasons unbeknownst to her. With the assistance of the psychotic businessman, along with a gorgeous manwhore whom Tora swore to never date but ends up doing just that, she discovers her seventy-years-dead great-grandmother was actually an otherworldly warrioress.

In an effort to beat the murderous beast at its own game, Tora chooses to take on her deceased great-grandmother’s powers to gain immortality and supernatural strength.

During the transfer of powers, something goes wrong: she unwittingly releases a daemon who’s been cursed to his own realm for enslaving the fiend and working towards enslaving all factions. Now, she not only has a murderous beast on her heels but a conniving daemon who’s loose and wants to use her for his own means.

So…I’m thinking about self-publishing this book I’ve been working on for forever, and I’ve got questions for those of you who’ve done it or are researching it.

I’ve heard pros and cons of publishing through Amazon’s Createspace, namely that it’s harder to do actual signings in larger stores (like B&N). What has your experience been with that? If you don’t go use Createspace, who is your distributor? Who do you use for editing, book covers, and all that fun stuff?

I’ve noticed groups of writers getting together to promote each others’ works, edit and proof each others’ works, and so on. How do you get to be a part of such a group? And for those of you who are a part of such a group, what has your experience been? Also, how do you go about promotion? Do you hire someone else to do it for you?

Finally, is it best to have an agent? Did you get your agent before or after you self-published?

I’m starting out on a very small budget, yet I want to publish professional work. Any advice on that?

Hurry up people! You have just a little over an hour left to enter to win a copy of Blood in the Past signed by the fantabulous Jordanna East! After this…the chance is gone. Do it because once Jordanna becomes rich and famous, you’ll be kicking yourself in the ass for not entering this contest! Remember, all you have to do is to FOLLOW JORDANNA, FOLLOW ME, and LEAVE A COMMENT so I know you’re interested in entering the contest.

Th contest ends tonight at midnight. I’ll be putting the entrants’ names in a jar and picking out the lucky winner. So, hurry up and enter!

We’re getting down to the wire here…less than six hours left to enter to win a copy of Blood in the Past signed by the fantabulous Jordanna East! After this…the chance is gone. Remember, all you have to do is to FOLLOW JORDANNA, FOLLOW ME, and LEAVE A COMMENT so I know you’re interested in entering the contest.

This is the last day to enter as the contest ends tonight at midnight. I’ll be putting the entrants’ names in a jar and picking out the lucky winner.

Good luck!

I’m reposting Jordanna’s favorite excerpt and my review. Also, Jordanna has another excerpt on her website!

First off, Blood in the Past was ranked #5 on Amazon’s list of serial killers. Read her book, and you’ll see why.

Blood in the Past – An Excerpt

Lyla eased her car to a stop a few blocks away from his house. A low-hanging branch scraped the roof. Lyla cringed at the sound, almost as if it were begging Lyla to return her foot to the gas pedal. But she did not. She parked, drew 10 ccs of succinylcholine into the syringe, and slithered out of the car into the wet night. She hurried to her destination in a half-crouch, trying to blend into the darkness of the asphalt.

She sneaked around the back of her father’s house through the shadows of the maple trees. They still clutched their leaves in denial of the approaching autumn. Every now and again, the rain would tear a leaf from its branch and the fluttering shadow would frighten Lyla. But instead of cursing the rain, she thanked it. It softened the ground, cushioned her footfalls, and tethered the neighbors to their couches. Few, if any, people would witness her arrival.

Searching for signs of life in his house and finding only the soft flickering of a TV in the living room, Lyla entered through the back door. Despite burying his wife hours earlier, her father had gone on a date that night. She’d overheard him bragging about it to a group of his colleagues at the funeral. A few were impressed by his gall, but most were repulsed.

However loathsome Lyla found it, she’d learned from her mother that, following a date night, her father would drunkenly pass out on the couch, which was good for Lyla, logistically. She imagined his stench: sex and a perfume so cheap the woman probably purchased it at the cosmetics counter of the nearest drug store. For a second, she marveled at how he at least had the decency not to bring the girls to the house where his wife—her mother, for God’s sake—had lost her life.

She knew the bristles of the doormat made a scritch–scritch noise, so Lyla bent each leg and thoroughly and silently dried the soles of her sneakers on her pants’ legs. Without squeaking, wet shoes, she tiptoed down to the basement, pausing to grab a candle from the emergency kit at the top of the stairs. The old house’s circuit breakers were notoriously fickle, so she switched off the main breaker, drowning the house in complete darkness. Lyla paused in the spot where she’d overheard her aunt’s suspicions only days earlier. With her ear toward the ceiling, she strained to hear any indication of her father’s stirring over the din of rain pelting the house. She heard nothing, so she removed the hypodermic needle from her over-sized bag, almost piercing herself as she fumbled for it.

“Here I come, Daddy,” she said in a singsong whisper, creeping back up the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn’t that excerpt spine-tingling? Gah…what does she do next? Buy the book to find out! As of today, Blood in the Past is also in print! Check out Jordanna’s site for instructions on how to buy!

Now, my review…

Blood in the Past is a prequel novella introducing us to three people—Jillian, Lyla, and Jason—along with the people in their lives. It examines how Jillian’s involvement with a married man breaks down into vines that snake around and forever change the lives of others, actually driving one person, Lyla, into a state of murderous, vengeful psychosis.

Ten years ago…

Jillian Atford falls for an older man, a handsome Philadelphia cop, whose mystery is that he’s married, a reality Jillian refuses to accept. Lyla Kyle finds her mother dead on the floor from an apparent suicide. She blames her philandering father and wastes no time taking her revenge. Detective Jason Brighthouse Sr. is in the wrong place at the right time to attempt to save a colleague from his burning home. When neither of them make it out alive, his son can only harp on their last argument. He shoots himself in the head…with his father’s gun.

Three lives. Three deaths. One story of consequences, revenge and obsession.

To understand the future, you must visit the past. Blood in the Past: an introductory novella to the upcoming Blood for Blood Series, coming Winter 2013.

Blood in the Past is a well-written debut by Jordanna East. It’s fast-paced and gets right into the heart of the story early on, and the ending leaves you reeling…wanting more, discovering just how psychotic and sociopathic Lyla is. Even though this is a novella, it gives us just enough insight into who the characters are and what their individual motivations are for the upcoming series. In some aspects, it would be nice to have the story fleshed out more, but then it wouldn’t be a novella and it would be harder to go from this story and leap ten years into the future for the next.

There are parts that jump a few months into the future, but again, it is a novella. The chapters show each character’s point of view, so it does go back and forth in time—again, to show the different viewpoints. Even so, it is fairly easy to follow.

The beauty of this novella is that Jordanna makes you feel Jillian’s desperation, Lyla’s hatred, and Jason’s desire to be more through a combination of action, dialogue, and introspection rather than all narration. I can’t wait for the upcoming series.

To enter the contest to win a signed book by Jordanna, check out Jordanna’s blog about her upcoming Blood for Blood series and her upcoming serial novel The Word and The Way, follow her blog, and then hop back on over here, like this page and follow my blog, and leave a comment about why you want to read Jordanna’s book and upcoming series! That’s it!